These were probably brought to the island after the Muslim conquest of Sicily in the 9th century; Arabic texts preserved at Agrigento document the movement of large numbers of sheep to the Sicilian interior.
[2] It is a triple-purpose breed, yielding meat, milk, and wool.
The wool is not now in demand and the Barbaresca is kept principally for meat and milk production.
It yields approximately 140–160 litres of milk per lactation, with 6–9% fat.
[2] The Barbaresca is one of the seventeen autochthonous Italian sheep breeds for which a genealogical herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders.